Roller entry guide for rod mills

Abstract

A roller for a steel mill entry guide in which pockets are formed in at least one of the flat annular surfaces on the side of the roller. The pockets are used to intersect a stream of moving fluid projected at the surface of the roller containing the pockets to force the rollers to rotate whilst no work is passing through the guide. The pockets are of a rectangular shape and are easy to fabricate and have no preferential direction of rotation.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A roller entry guide for a rod mill comprising: a body having a passageway formed therein for guiding the passage of a rod as it passes therethrough,   a pair of pivoting arms mounted on said body on opposing sides of the rod passageway,   a pair of reversible roller guide members mounted on said pivoting arms at the ends thereof for engaging said rod as it passes through said guide,   means to direct a stream of high speed fluid onto said roller guide members in such a manner as to cause rotation of said roller guide members,   each of said roller guide members having a plurality of fluid reaction pockets arranged in a ring on each roller guide member, said pockets being in the form of a slightly rounded parallelapiped.   
     
     
       2. A roller entry guide as claimed in claim 1 wherein said roller guide members are substantially annular shaped, having an internal aperture of such shape as to receive bearing means, and wherein each roller guide member has an external surface profile suitable for engaging said rod and wherein each roller has a pair of opposing flat annular surfaces extending between said internal aperture and said external surface profile, wherein a plurality of evenly radially spaced substantially rectangularly shaped pockets are formed at a constant diameter of said annular surface.   
     
     
       3. A reversible roller guide as claimed in claim 1 wherein said roller guide members are substantially annular shaped, having an internal aperture of such shape as to receive bearing means, and wherein each roller guide member has an external surface profile suitable for engaging said rod and wherein each roller has a pair of opposing flat annular surfaces extending between said internal aperture and said external surface profile, wherein a plurality of evenly radially spaced substantially rectangularly shaped pockets are formed at a constant diameter of said annular surface.   
     
     
       4. A reversible roller guide as claimed in claim 1 wherein said roller guide members are substantially annular shaped, having an internal aperture of such shape as to receive bearing means, and wherein each roller guide member has an external surface profile suitable for engaging said rod and wherein each roller has a pair of opposing flat annular surfaces extending between said internal aperture and said external surface profile, wherein a plurality of evenly radially spaced substantially rectangularly shaped pockets are formed at a constant diameter of said annular surface.   
     
     
       5. A reversible roller guide as claimed in claim 1 wherein said roller guide members are substantially annular shaped, having an internal aperture of such shape as to receive bearing means, and wherein each roller guide member has an external surface profile suitable for engaging said rod and wherein each roller has a pair of opposing flat annular surfaces extending between said internal aperture and said external surface profile, wherein a plurality of evenly radially spaced substantially rectangularly shaped pockets are formed at a constant diameter of said annular surface.   
     
     
       6. A reversible roller as claimed in claim 5 wherein said parallelapiped has corners which are slightly rounded.